El Lunes

25/02/08
Wow today is the half way point of the program, I don’t want to leave! Starting right now I am going to try even harder to learn and practice Spanish as much as I can. Today was the best Monday ever. I went to school forty minutes early and skyped with Mom and Dad, I love talking to them and seeing their beautiful/tired faces. It is usually close to midnight when we talk, Dad is going strong, but Mom is a little out of it and I love it. I don’t even know what we talked about, but I just love that we can keep in contact even though we are so far away. Class was good this morning, Professor Shumway is a great teacher and I just feel close to him because we spend so much time with him and his family. I love that he knows each of us and is so friendly and helpful. His wife is amazing and his seven kids are all fantastic. Between my two history classes Sarah, Erika, and I went to the market that is held on Mondays and it was awesome. It is similar to the Galt flea market, but they hombres working at the various tables are yelling at you “Guapa, dos por cinco euros!” “Más barato de carne de gato!” One man in the fruit section was yelling guapa at Sarah and I for more than a minute, at the end of the isle I looked back and he was still asking us to buy his fruit, haha it was fantastic. I bought a delicious Fuji apple and enjoyed walking around and seeing what each of them had to sell, we didn’t buy anything, but maybe next week. After the market I went to History 390. We are studying about the Spanish Inquisition right now and examining a specific court case, it is pretty interesting. After class we had a delicious lunch, pastel de patata which is ground meat, eggs, and then papa puree on top and then baked, she usually puts raisins in it, but no fruit surprises this time. I studied Spanish for awhile afterwards and then took off for a great run by the river close to the apartment. I cleaned up a little bit and then went to institute. Mondays we have a devotional at 5:30 and then institute from 6:00 to 7:30. Devotional was really good, Professor Shumway gave the spiritual thought tonight and he talked about how we need to evaluate the first half of our trip and make improvements for the next month and half. It was very motivating and I am excited to improve even more in the next while. Institute class was great, I love our professor Hermano Lopez. Afterwards I came home and did some more homework, then helped Ana get ready for dinner. Dinner was so good and we had the best talk around the table for like an hour afterwards. I just love talking with her, she makes me feel so at home here in Spain. It is her birthday this Thursday and it is going to be a party. Amy and I are making flan for her because she said it’s her favorite dessert, I’ve never tried it, but Amy has a good recipe so vamos a ver! She’s having her sister, cousin, and maybe a few others over for almuerzo and I already know the food will be muy rica so I’m excited. Bueno, I’m going to go study more Spanish!